Blog

Online Appointment Booking: A Quick Guide to Choosing a Solution

Over the past 18 months, demand for digital tools to support virtual and in-clinic patient care has exploded. Among these tools, online appointment booking has proven to bring significant benefits to clinics, with fewer phone calls to answer, not as…

Ocean Tips: How to Simplify New Patient Registration

Adding and rostering new patients into your EMR can be a time-consuming process. Here are some ways Ocean makes the new patient registration process easier and more efficient for your team: 1 Sign and receive roster forms online With the…

New Patient Tool Helps Improve Access to Primary Care for People with Developmental Disabilities

We are calling for physicians to participate in the early access period of the About My Health and My Health Care Visit eForms for patients with intellectual disabilities. If you are interested in providing feedback, prototypes of the forms are…

Healthcare team leverages Ocean to support large-scale COVID-screening program

In August of 2020, under the looming shadow of COVID-19, the Health & Wellness Clinic (HWC) at the University of Toronto was tasked with quickly implementing a COVID-screening program for international students returning to campus. During the mandatory 13-day quarantine…

Using Ocean to Support COVID-19 Vaccination Clinics

As the COVID-19 vaccination roll-out continues across Canada, many healthcare providers are navigating how this impacts their practices. Even if clinics aren’t directly involved with vaccine administration just yet, it’s worth considering what this may look like in the near…

#AxeTheFax Ocean Integrates with Epic EHR and More

Axing the Fax: Epic integration, Ontario Hospital Expansion Continues

The Ocean eReferral Network is now integrated with Epic EHR, and is expanding rapidly in Ontario with recent efforts led by St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, Michael Garron Hospital, and Joseph Brant Hospital with the help of the Ontario eServices Program.…

New for Reminders: Text, Easier Targeting, and more!

Over the last year, healthcare clinics have embraced secure messaging and reminders to communicate with patients, supplement virtual care, and share important information outside of the clinic. During that time, we’ve received some very helpful feedback from both clients and…

From Theory to Practice: Bringing Healthcare Interoperability to Life

It’s not everyday that you participate in a community for the benefit of the greater good and end up being a direct beneficiary of that effort. I’ve been fortunate to do exactly that — helping to realize the vision of…

Leaders in digital health: St. Joe’s partners with the Ontario eServices Program to enhance patient experiences through eReferral

SJHH has led the successful integration of CognisantMD’s Ocean Platform and the Epic Health Information System to offer eReferral HAMILTON, ON, March 23, 2021 /CNW/ – St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton (SJHH) continues to showcase leadership in digital technology through the introduction of eReferral to…

Great News for Med Access Users!

We’re excited to share that Med Access clinics can now access Ocean directly from the EMR by using the TELUS Launcher. This feature release is part of our ongoing work to improve our Med Access integration and better support your…

Ocean Tips: How to Collect Consent from Patients

Collecting and tracking consent from patients has always been an important – and often challenging – task for clinics. With clinics shifting to telemedicine and virtual care, it is important that patients understand – and agree to – these new…

NEW: Products & Features Released for OSCAR Pro Users!

We are very excited to announce a series of new products and features that are now available for OSCAR Pro users through the Ocean Cloud Connect integration. Built in collaboration with Well Health and the System Coordinated Access (SCA) program,…

Tools for Flu Shot Clinics in the Age of COVID-19

Administering the flu shot is more important – and more challenging – than ever before. Juggling an increased demand for the flu vaccine with physical distancing measures and other in-clinic safety precautions has introduced a whole new series of challenges…

Ocean Joins apps.health Marketplace

New Features Now Available to Connect Patients with their Healthcare Providers September 28, 2020 – Toronto, ON – The Ocean Platform, Canada’s leading EMR-integrated digital health suite for patient engagement, is now available on apps.health, a digital health app marketplace…

How to Securely Accept Photos and Other Files from Patients

Virtual visits over the phone or via secure messages can be an effective way to provide patient care…but getting a clear picture of a patient’s problem can still be a challenge. When clinics started closing their doors and shifting to…

New on the OEN: Harvest Medicine

Harvest Medicine is now accepting eReferrals through the Ocean eReferral Network. They offer assessment, care, education and follow up for patients who may benefit from medical cannabis, and guide them through the process of access and treatment using the expertise…

New on the Ocean eReferral Network: KMH Cardiology Centres

KMH Cardiology Centres operate 10 healthcare facilities across the GTA and South-western Ontario offering diagnostic testing and specialist consultations. There are currently 20+ cardiologists, internal medicine specialists (both general and cardiology focused), and electrophysiologists that practice across the 10 KMH…

Case Study: University of Toronto’s COVID-19 Screening Program

NEW: The Ocean Portal Has Changed!

The next time you log into the Ocean Portal, you may notice things look a little different. We are very excited to reveal that we are launching a new and improved Ocean Portal navigation, along with a few bonus features.…

OntarioMD’s HRM Now Sending Ocean eReferral Consultation Reports

Ontario community-based family physicians can now receive consultation reports for referrals generated through the Ocean eReferral Network in their certified electronic medical record (EMR) systems through OntarioMD’s Health Report Manager (HRM). HRM’s electronic delivery of the valuable patient information contained in consultation reports…

New Feature: Securely Receive Attachments, Documents, and Files from Patients

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, many clinics have been asking if they can use Ocean to securely receive attachments, photos, and documentation from patients to support virtual visits. To address this need, we’ve added attachment support to Website Forms,…

Ocean Tips: Best Practices for Effective Messages & Reminders

A well-written message sent to a patient can greatly reduce the likelihood of them needing to phone in and ask about appointment details, lab results, or other information relevant to their health care visits. On the other hand, a poorly-crafted…

Start Sending Mental Health eReferrals to BounceBack

Did you know you can use Ocean to send eReferrals to BounceBack? We are pleased to share that Ontario-based healthcare providers can now electronically refer patients seeking mental health support to BounceBack using the Ocean eReferral Network. BounceBack provides a free,…

Meet the New Members of the Ocean Team!

We’re excited to introduce six of the latest additions to our CognisantMD team. From Product Management to Development, these team members are helping us to grow and continually improve the Ocean Platform to meet the growing demand for digital health…

Using Ocean for COVID-19 Coronavirus Screening

This blog post is no longer being updated. Please refer to our COVID-19 Screening Tools page for an up-to-date list of tools and resources. View all Ocean COVID-19 Screening ToolsIn light of the recent coronavirus outbreak, many healthcare clinics have…

Diagnostic Imaging Clinic Adopts eReferrals, Providing Better Experiences for Patients & Providers

A look back at Wentworth-Halton X-Ray & Ultrasound’s success on the Ocean eReferral Network In 2018, Wentworth-Halton X-Ray & Ultrasound Inc. transitioned from solely paper-based referrals and fax machines to receiving electronic referrals on the Ocean eReferral Network. Today, they…

Learn From Your Peers: How WCH Uses Check-in Kiosks for Infection Control

Women’s College Hospital (WCH) recently implemented Check-In Kiosks in their waiting rooms to helps simplify the check-in process for both patients and staff. However, the team at WCH saw the potential for kiosks to do much more than simply change…

Meeting CPSO’s Referral Policy Changes with Ocean

System Coordinated Access eReferrals Program is Helping Ontario Physicians and Surgeons Adjust to the CPSO Policy Updates for Transitions in Care EMR-integrated platform automates patient and provider notifications for healthcare referrals, saving time for clinic staff while engaging patients Toronto,…

Ocean Tips: The Basics of Rule Building

Ocean’s Rule functionality automates your form delivery – a particularly helpful feature if you’re a high-volume clinic rotating through different Ocean forms or simply want Ocean to do the work for you. Clinics can use rules with Check-In Kiosks, Patient…

CognisantMD Adds Lawyer Nick Businger to Board

CognisantMD, a leader in EMR-integrated digital healthcare tools in Canada, is pleased to announce the appointment of Nick Businger to its Board of Directors. Nick Businger is a Toronto-based lawyer and principal of Businger Law. Prior to starting his own…

What’s New with Check-In Kiosks

Our check-in kiosks are a vital component for clinics looking to streamline check-in and alleviate waiting room congestion. We’re excited to share some new updates that’ll help clinics operate more smoothly and use their check-in kiosks more efficiently. Walk-In Functionality…

Sending and Receiving eReferrals in Accuro Just Got Better

Our team has been hard at work making our Accuro integration even better, and we’re thrilled to share the results. Working closely with the QHR development team and the System Coordinated Access Program, we have added new features to improve…

eReferral Update: Wait Times are Published, Early Results Show Fewer Unnecessary MRIs

The Ocean eReferral Network (OEN) makes it easy to find healthcare providers, send secure patient referrals, and track the status of referrals, right from your EMR. By sending referrals through Ocean, clinicians can eliminate paper and faxes, reduce errors and…

Introducing Ocean for Med Access

We’re thrilled to announce the launch of our Ocean integration with TELUS Med Access. With this release, Med Access clinics can now connect to Canada’s leading patient engagement platform, providing them with tools to improve patient experience, increase operational efficiency…

Going from “High” to Low Risk: Automate Screening for Cannabis Use with Ocean

The following is a guest post from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. To learn more about cannabis, visit their website. As of June 2018, the purchase, possession and use of cannabis is legal in Canada. Cannabis products are…

Ocean Tips: Creating Effective Appointment Reminders

A growing number of clinics are adopting technology to automate the process of reminding patients about their appointments. When done correctly, appointment reminders can reduce the risk of no-shows, help patients arrive more prepared, and increase operational efficiency within the…

HARMS Program START-IT Ocean Opioid Management Tool

Getting Patients Out of Harm’s Way: Ocean as an Opioid Management Tool

Canada’s current approach to the opioid crisis has left health advocates desperate for alternatives. In response to the growing strain on the healthcare system, Dr. Ryan Patchett-Marble and his team at Marathon Family Health Team in Northern Ontario developed the…

New & Improved! Ocean Now Powers Accuro Patient Forms

We are thrilled to announce that Ocean is now officially the technology platform powering Accuro Patient Forms. This represents an exciting new phase in our partnership with the QHR team and Accuro EMR, with tighter integration, more features, and some…

FHT Focus: Meeting the Ministry’s Email Requirements with Ocean

The Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care recently announced family health teams (FHTs) “must make reasonable efforts within the Budget included in Schedule ‘B’ to ensure that the option of email communication is available to patients.” To complicate…

Hamilton FHT DA VINCI Project Case Study

Hamilton Family Health Team and the DA VINCI Project for Mental Health

Using Ocean Tablets to streamline data collection and provide personalized, patient-centred care in a group setting The Hamilton Family Health Team is the largest family health team in the province of Ontario. Comprised of over 160 family doctors and over…

Ocean Tips: Ensuring Patient Privacy at Your Ocean Check-In Kiosk

We are often asked by the Ocean community, “How can we collect information from our patients using Ocean Check-In Kiosks in our waiting room without jeopardizing patient privacy?” Check-in kiosks are often placed near the front desk to make them…

Flu Shot Season is Here: Let Ocean Automatically Screen & Invite Your Patients

Fall season = flu season and when it comes to prevention, vaccines are your patient’s best line of defence. Each year, approximately 12,200 people are hospitalized and 3,500 die as a result of contracting influenza. Despite these statistics, it can…

Ocean eReferrals On a Roll: Over 120,000 and Counting

Three years ago, we began our journey to help replace outdated, fax-and-paper-based healthcare referrals with a secure, electronic alternative. We were confident that Ocean eRequests and eReferrals could help to significantly improve patient care by streamlining clinician referrals and patient…

Meet the New Members of the Ocean Team!

A lot has been happening at CognisantMD over the last little while…new products, features, programs, even faces! That’s right, it’s been a year since we did our last company update, so we figured it was time to introduce the latest…

Sophie’s Story: Poverty Screening Tool Now Available on Ocean

Across Ontario, it’s estimated that 20% of families can’t afford to make ends meet – that’s 1.57 million people living in poverty. Since it is a social determinant of health and a risk factor for many health conditions, it is…

Congratulations & Good Luck to our Customer Success Associate, Ingrid Cheung!

We would like to extend our sincere congratulations to our Customer Success Associate, Ingrid Cheung, as she begins the University of Toronto’s Doctor of Medicine program. While we will all miss her smiling face here in the office, we are…

Ocean Tips: How do I automatically load forms based on my patient’s demographics?

Keywords are a powerful tool in Ocean that help you to automate patient form completion and clinical notes. Today, we want to highlight one of the most helpful features of keywords: using them in tablet rules to automatically load specific…

New Year, New Space, New Job Openings… Come Join Our Team!

The new year has brought lots of change here at CognisantMD. The business is growing rapidly, with more and more clinics relying on our technology to do everything from checking in at a kiosk to sending patients appointment reminders and…

Joule partners with CognisantMD

Ottawa, Ontario, September 11, 2017 – Joule, the Canadian Medical Association’s (CMA) newest company, is partnering with CognisantMD to bring the Ocean Platform for patient engagement and eReferrals to Canadian physicians. Ocean is a secure, cloud-based platform that connects patients,…

Ontario Ministry Announces Ocean eReferral Expansion

Virtually everyone knows someone with a story of a faxed referral being lost, a specialist appointment being missed because they weren’t contacted, or someone who’s been left in the dark while waiting far too long for a healthcare referral. We’ve…

Questions of the Month: Ocean Online Messages

With our weekly software updates, there are always new features being added to Ocean. This can make it hard to keep up with the latest and greatest. This month, we clear up a few questions about the different ways you…

We’re Growing! Meet the New Ocean Team

If you’re an Ocean client, you likely know that we take a very personal, hands-on approach to customer service and we pride ourselves on knowing our customers. Over the past couple of months, our tight-knit team has added a few…

Recorded Webinar: Getting to Know Ocean & PSS

Are you a PS Suite user that’s new to Ocean (or thinking about adding it to your practice)? Have you been using Ocean for a while, but want to know how to get more from the Platform? Do you have…

2016: The Ocean Year in Review

A Look Back at New Features, Updates, and Other Changes (And a Tip for How to Stay in the Loop for More Changes Coming in 2017) As we approach the end of the year, we have so much to be thankful for…

New! Guide to Building eForms

With over 4,000 forms, the Ocean Library is a very large – and constantly growing – clinical resource. Every day Ocean clients add to this resource with new and interesting forms. In order to make it easier to get started building your own eForms, CognisantMD…

Webinar: Getting to Know Ocean & PSS

An Introduction to Ocean & PSS – The Basics & Beyond Are you a PS Suite user that’s new to Ocean (or thinking about adding it to your practice)? Have you been using Ocean for a while, but want to know how…

Featured Support Questions: November 2016

We answer hundreds of support questions each month from Ocean users about everything from creating forms to choosing a tablet. We chose a few recent customer questions that we think may be helpful to other users. Have a question you…

CognisantMD Awarded CMA Innovation Grant

We are thrilled and honoured to share that Dr. Doug Kavanagh was recently selected to receive a Joule™ Innovation grant from the Canadian Medical Association (CMA). The grant program, which was launched this year, was created to help support CMA members developing…

WWLHIN Using Ocean for eReferrals

For the past few months, we’ve kept some very exciting news under wraps. Today, we are thrilled to announce that the Ocean eReferral Platform has been chosen as the technology behind an innovative project that will bring eReferrals to the Waterloo-Wellington region and…

New Ocean Forms – September 2016

Recent Additions to the Ocean Library Are you wondering what’s new in Ocean? Our library of tools is continually growing, and now includes over 400 globally available (core) forms, plus an additional 1500+ forms in our shared library. To keep…

Featured Support Questions: September 2016

New & Updated Adolescent Health Assessments

It’s hard to believe that summer vacation is almost over. As your practice starts to ramp up with back-to-school visits, we thought it might be a good time to highlight the wide range of adolescent-focused tools available in Ocean. Caring…

A New, EMR-Centric Approach to Secure Messages

With Ocean, you can now send secure messages to your patients, add attachments, track when a patient has read your message, and allow them to respond – all without risking the safety and privacy of PHI. If you are an Ocean user,…

Welcoming Dr. Heather Thomson, Director of Customer Success

We are so thrilled to welcome the newest member of the Ocean team, Dr. Heather Thomson. As the Director of Customer Success here at CognisantMD, Heather has jumped in and is already developing and sharing best practices with our community of…

Mental Health Practice Support Program Launches on Ocean

Dr. Adam Stewart is a family physician with a passion for developing and implementing tools to improve EMR use. Over the past few months, he has worked closely with our team here at CognisantMD to develop an algorithm on the Ocean Platform to aid…

Welcoming our Accuro Users

We recently participated in the Accuro User Days hosted by QHR in both Manitoba and Toronto, and met with a number of Accuro users for the first time. With our initial integration complete, we’ve been thrilled to welcome many of them into the Ocean community…

New Ocean Forms – June 2016

NEW! Family Medicine Picklist

We are frequently asked by customers for ways to more easily scan the library for useful forms. With over 400 forms in the core library and another 1500+ in the expanded library, we understand that filtering through the options (even with keywords)…

TELUS Partnership: Making it Official!

The last few weeks have been busier than ever around the CognisantMD offices, with new customers, new partners, numerous events, and more. While there has been a lot of reason for excitement, one of the biggest things to happen around…

What Android Tablet Should I Buy for My Practice?

Note This article is no longer being updated. For up to date tablet recommendations please refer to the article “What tablet should I buy? on our support site. This article was last updated in November 2017 to include a tablet…

Generate Customized NutriSTEP Patient Handouts on Ocean

This customized patient handout is generated based on the parent responses to the NutriSTEP nutrition screening tool in Ocean. It includes concise key messages and can be easily printed for the parent to take home. (Click to enlarge) Are you…

NEWS: Syrian Refugee Medical Translation Tool Reduces Language Barriers

Refugees can complete a full patient history and PHQ-9 mental health screening in Arabic or Armenian, with responses automatically translated to English Toronto, ON – March 9, 2016 – With over 25,000 Syrian refugees recently arrived in Canada, a significant…

The Top 10 Forms on Ocean for Clinical Use

“What do other clinics, physicians and researchers use Ocean for most often?” In our last post, we shared the top 10 forms on Ocean for administrative purposes, by usage. This week, we’re doing the same for clinical forms. If you’re…

The Top 10 Forms on Ocean for Administration

“What do other clinics, physicians and researchers use Ocean for most often?” This may be the single, most-asked question that we get from clients and prospects. In an attempt to clearly answer this question, we decided to take a look…

Making Email Consent Easy at the Point of Care

We recently brought together a leading hospital, a major university health services clinic and a family health team to develop an automated process to collect patient consent at the point of care using the Ocean tablet. It includes a detailed consent form based on…

FHT Wins LEADing Award with Ocean

We were thrilled to share that the Couchiching Family Health Team will be named a 2016 LEADing Practice by Canada Health Infoway as a result of their innovative use of the Ocean Platform. This national award recognizes teams for using digital health to strengthen clinical practice and improve…

With Healthcare Hacks on the Rise, Do You Know Who Can See Your PHI?

Do you know this man? More importantly, did you know that he might be able to view and even sell your patient’s health data? He works as a system administrator in your new cloud-based health IT solution. The database is…

Independent Research Study on Patient Tablets

Are you a clinician using Ocean with your patients? Would you like to share your thoughts on the effectiveness of tablet-based patient self-interviewing? We are pleased to invite Ocean users to participate in an independent research study conducted by Sunnybrook Family Medicine Residents.…

NEWS: Ontario’s First EMR-Integrated Patient eReferral Solution Launches

Ontario’s First EMR-Integrated Patient eReferral Solution, Ocean by CognisantMD Launches at Cambridge Memorial Hospital Click to read the article in the Cambridge Times eReferrals help improve patient access to diagnostic imaging in Waterloo region, replacing outdated faxes, saving time and improving…

NEWS: We’ve Partnered with the Centre for Effective Practice

New Partnership Puts Evidence-Based Tools in the Hands of Primary Care Providers and their Patients The Centre for Effective Practice and CognisantMD join forces to deliver EMR-integrated patient-facing forms at the point of care Toronto, ON – November 12, 2015…

3 Easy Ways to Improve Flu Shot Rates with Ocean

With the fall fast approaching, it’s time for us to start planning ahead for flu season. As family doctors, we are tasked with maximizing influenza immunization rates for our patient population each year. Since it is such a simple, safe,…

Automating Vaccine Invitations & Informed Consent

I recently wrote a post describing how I am using patient questionnaires that incorporate decision aid tools to help support patient-based care and joint-decision making. Specifically, I shared a Statin Decision Aid tool that introduces patients to the concept of…

Patient-Centred Care: Using Tablet-Based Decision-Aid Tools

A screenshot of the visual statin decision aid tool that patients can review before discussing the treatment with their physician. A colleague recently forwarded me this really interesting NEJM article, which reflects a growing trend toward incorporating patient preference in our clinical guidelines. It…

Ocean Kick off at the Hamilton FHT

We were honoured to participate in the Ocean Tablet pilot kickoff with the Hamilton Family Health Team a couple weeks ago; it was a great event, hosted and organized by the FHT (Gilles and team) along with Healthcare Together. There was a…

NEWS: Open API Now Available

CognisantMD Launches Open API for EMR Vendors to Integrate with the Ocean Platform, Seeks International Distribution Partners EMR vendors can now easily add support for secure waiting room tablets including hundreds of clinically-validated forms and patient surveys from the Ocean Library September…

Reducing Outside Use Penalties

If you’re a family physician in a rostered system like me, you are surely familiar with the frustration of our patients’ “outside use” of other health services. Every quarter, we receive a report from the ministry of our rostered patients…

NEW: Weekly Ocean Release Notes

Do you like to stay on top of the changes we’re making to the Ocean Platform and Tablets? Do you love new features? If you’re an Ocean customer, you probably noticed that we are constantly updating our products with new…

The Impatient Patient: An eBook by Dr. John Crosby

Very few people realize that the genesis of the Ocean Platform was actually a series of tools that our co-founder, Dr. Doug Kavanagh built when he was in medical school, to help clinicians save time and still provide excellent patient care.…

Increasing Cancer Screening and Preventive Care Bonuses

Keeping patients up-to-date with screening tests is an important part of my job as a family physician. The most common evidence-based screening interventions in primary care, from mammograms and pap tests to colonoscopies, are effective for lowering cancer mortality. As a…

Ocean and the Non-Annual, Non-Physical Exam

The traditional “annual physical” is controversial these days. Recent studies have shown that people that come in for their physical don’t seem to be any healthier than those who do not. Many experts believe this is due to the excessive…

New Ocean Forms – June 2015

Are you wondering what’s new in Ocean? Our library of tools is continually growing, and now includes over 400 globally available forms, plus an additional 800+ forms in our shared library. To keep you up to date on the most…

NEWS: CognisantMD Launches Ocean eRequests

Online Patient Self-Service Connects People to their Health Record Patients can now complete secure forms for new patient intake, prescription renewals, appointment requests and more from a clinician’s website Monday, June 1, 2015 – Toronto, ON – Today at the 2015…

NEWS: CognisantMD Receives TELUS Product Achievement Award

We’re thrilled to share that we were recently honoured with the Outstanding Product Achievement Award recognizing M-Health Innovation Excellence in Canada’s Health Care Sector. The award, which was presented at the CATAAlliance‘s Annual Innovation Awards Gala Dinner, was created to…

Want to see who’s using Ocean? Sign up for our NEW weekly usage reports

If you’ve ever wondered about how much your team is using your tablets, you’ll want to check out the new Ocean usage report. You can have it sent nightly and/or weekly, and it will tell you how many patients have…

Specialist Focus: Helpful Tools for OB/GYNs

The Ocean platform can be particularly useful for specialists who frequently see new patients. In this post, we thought we would share some of the most useful tools in Ocean for specialists in obstetrics and gynecology. This includes everything from…

Get Your TELUS Tips eBook

Some of the most powerful, time-saving features in PS Suite are left untouched by physicians and clinicians that use the EMR everyday. In this quick guide, we share 10 helpful tips (plus a bonus tip) to help you use PS…

NEWS: CognisantMD Wins F.W. Sheps Award for Innovation and Technology

From left: Victoria Badgley (VP Marketing), Jeff Kavanagh (President) and Dr. Doug Kavanagh (Medical Director & Founder) of CognisantMD accept the award from Dr. Franklin Sheps. December 17, 2014 – Toronto, ON – At the Annual Scientific Assembly (ASA) of…

PSS Tip #8: Track email consent in the patient record

Although email is very convenient for clinicians and patients, it remains an insecure medium due to its lack of encryption. The College and CMPA recommend that physicians provide adequate informed consent for patients before we exchange any health information via…

Automatic Vaccination Reminders in the Waiting Room

Family doctors: do you sometimes plan to ask whether a patient would like a flu shot, only to become distracted by all of the other issues during the visit? It can be embarrassing to follow-up when this happens, especially when…

Advance Care Planning in Primary Care: A Patient Toolkit

Josie Xu is a medical student who has been working with Dr. Doug Kavanagh to create a patient education and information documentation tool on Ocean for Advance Care Planning. The tool is comprised of four patient questionnaires that are designed to…

PSS Tip #7: Store and access patient handouts in PS Suite

Importing handouts into PS Suite is an easy way to keep useful handouts easily accessible. By using links from the toolbar, you can easily set up bookmarks that link to your own files and web-based resources. Getting Started: Importing handouts…

Creating & Sharing Clinical Content is Easier Than Ever

The eForm editor in the Ocean portal makes it easy to create new forms or edit duplicate forms from other Ocean users. Click to open larger image. Most healthcare workers are eager to share best practices with their colleagues; yet…

NEWS: Ocean Updates Over 100,000 Canadian Patient Records

Mobile Tablets in Waiting Rooms and Exam Rooms Transform Patient – Physician Communication CognisantMD co-founders, Dr. Doug Kavanagh (left) and Jeff Kavanagh (shown in Toronto in this recent photo), display their OceanWave tablet, which allows patients to submit information to…

Clinical Library Updates – September 2014

Our library of tools is continually growing. To keep you up to date on the most recent updates, we’ve compiled a list of a few of the questionnaires, forms, calculators and other tools that were added or updated over the…

Making the ODSP Health Status Report Faster, More Accurate

If you’ve ever filled out the yellow Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) disability determination package, you know how long and tedious of a process it can be. Completing the forms requires a huge amount of current information about the patient.…

Free Patient Poverty Screening & Social Assistance Tool

Poverty in Canada is a major health concern. Beyond the inequality and social disparity, it is now viewed by the medical community as an illness in and of itself, with an independent harm to health comparable to high blood pressure…

Ebola Screening Now Available in Ocean

The Ebola pandemic has created a sense of urgency and concern far beyond the borders of the African countries that are currently affected. Although the risk of the disease spreading in Canada remains very low, there is a clear understanding…

Join us at OntarioMD’s Every Step Conference

We are really excited to be participating in OntarioMD’s EMR: Every Step Conference and Vendor showcase on Thursday, September 11. This is the first time that OntarioMD has invited non-EMR vendors to participate, and it represents an exciting shift in…

PSS Tip #6: Provide patients with report cards and action plans

Written action plans and report cards can serve as a valuable and time-saving communication tool for your patients. Keeping action plans and report cards easily accessible from your EMR is a great way to ensure you provide these valuable resources…

PSS Tip #5: Create progress notes and consult letters with Encounter Assistants

TELUS PS Suite Encounter Assistants (EAs) are point-and-click templates that can automate the creation of a progress note or consult letter. They can also provide quick links to common workflow actions like creating a bill, sending a message, printing a…

NEWS: Free Toolkit Helps Physicians Safely Prescribe Opioids

Opioid Management Toolkit includes patient questionnaires, calculators, and contracts to help physicians assess, track and monitor opioid use July 30, 2014 – Toronto, ON – Opioid addiction in Canada has grown starkly over the past two decades, becoming a widespread…

3 Tips to Keep Tablets Safe in a Healthcare Setting – Part 2: Sanitizing

How do you keep tablets safe? How often are they stolen? How do you keep them clean and sanitized? Of all the questions we get asked, the one that comes up again and again is, how can you keep a…

Library Round-up: Mental Health Screening Tools

There is a growing body of evidence that by supplementing in-person clinical interviews with tablet-based screening, physicians can gather more open and honest responses from patients. In cases of mental health screening, this difference is particularly pronounced. With this in…

PSS Tip #4: Track patient health over time with flowsheets

Similar to lab tables, TELUS PS Suite Flowsheets are valuable tools to help you track various patient values over time. However, unlike lab tables, Flowsheets allow you to track any patient criteria including weight and blood pressure. They are particularly…

5 Tips to Keep Tablets Safe in Your Clinic – Part 1: Preventing Theft

How do you keep tablets safe? How often are they stolen? How do you keep them clean and sanitized? Of all the questions we get asked, the one that comes up again and again is, how can you keep a…

Automated, paperless email consent from your patients

Just click on this link to ensure you continue to receive email from us! If you’re tired of being asked for email consent, you are not alone. With the introduction of CASL (Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation) on July 1, 2014, virtually…

PSS Tip #3: Install decision support tools and calculators

CognisantMD’s free clinical resource library has a number of TELUS PS Suite custom forms based on clinical guidelines to help you with point-of-care decision support and chronic disease management. These tools can support clinical decision making by offering risk and…

Clinical Library Updates – June 2014

Our library of tools is continually growing. To keep you up to date on the most recent updates, we’ve compiled a list of some of the questionnaires, forms, calculators and other tools that were added or updated over the past…

News: CognisantMD Now Stores All Data in Canada

UPDATE (as of February 2018):As of February 2018, our failover disaster recovery facility has relocated to Montreal. Prior to this, the facility was located in Vancouver. Click MeAllowing patients to share personal data electronically opens up a range of possibilities to improve care, find efficiencies…

PSS Tip #2: Use Smart Reminders for Preventive Management

Smart Reminders help you to provide better patient care by automatically alerting you when your patient may be due for tests or other procedures, right in the patient chart. Reminders can be configured to trigger for all patients meeting a…

Featured Ocean Forms of the Week: Well-Baby Screens

Of our most-used patient questionnaires, Well-Baby Screens consistently land at the top of the list. This is not surprising, particularly with the enhanced 18-month well baby visit now recommending universal screening to determine whether a child is meeting important developmental…

PSS Tip #1: Add a PS Suite Toolbar with your most-used links

A toolbar with commonly used links can save you time in TELUS PS Suite and make routine tasks easier. You can make toolbars even more useful by adding custom links to things like your favourite medical reference platform. Getting Started:…

Are You Making the Most of Your EMR? A TELUS PSS User Checklist

Some of the most powerful, time-saving features in TELUS PS Suite are left untouched by physicians and clinicians that use the EMR everyday. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing 10 helpful tips to help you use PS Suite for…

Welcome to the CognisantMD Blog!

As we launch the CognisantMD blog, we’re excited to have this place where we can share all the interesting things we’re working on here for our users, researchers, industry partners and fellow clinicians. But more importantly, we’re looking forward to…

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